San Bernardino inspired the first Golden Arches design used for the McDonald brothers' original restaurant.
Richard and Maurice McDonald operated their pioneering restaurant in San Bernardino, California. When they redesigned the building around 1952, architect Stanley Meston added two large yellow arches to the structure, creating the visual feature that later became McDonald's signature symbol.
The San Bernardino restaurant was important because the brothers developed their Speedee Service System there. That system reduced the menu and organized preparation around efficient, repeatable production, ideas that later made the McDonald's brand suitable for rapid franchising.
The city is sometimes confused with Des Plaines, Illinois, where Ray Kroc opened an early McDonald's franchise restaurant in 1955. San Bernardino was the brothers' original base and the birthplace of the architectural arches; Des Plaines belongs to the later franchising story.